This episode begins at about 11:00 a.m. outside the house of the deceased Paddy Dignam in Sandymount. Bloom is entering the carriage, which will follow behind Dignam's hearse, together with Martin Cunningham, Mr. Power, and Simon Dedalus (who appears here in person for the first time in the novel). The carriage, which is littered inside with the crumbs of a picnic and, in addition, has mildewed leather, passes an old woman who is peeking at the funeral procession through a window in her house. Bloom spies young Stephen Dedalus, and the other men look at him, Bloom noticing his mourning hat; Simon Dedalus speaks up and curses Buck Mulligan, who he thinks is ruining his son. The carriage also passes Blazes Boylan Oust as Bloom is thinking of him), and it also passes a small coffin holding the corpse of a child. The ceremony at the graveside records Bloom's thoughts about death — the contemplations of one who is outside of Catholicism. The chapter ends (still in Glasnevin Cemetery) with Bloom's telling the solicitor, John Henry Menton, of a dent in his (Menton's) hat and being rebuffed for his remark. Menton was defeated by Bloom (by luck) at a game of bowls 17 years previous (with the young, unmarried Molly looking on), and Menton still holds a grudge.
The conversation of the four men in the funeral carriage relates to several motifs in Ulysses. For example, Bloom's memories of his father's suicide, thoughts brought on by Mr. Power's rambling comments, reinforce the father-son theme; and old Rudolph Bloom's dying request that Leopold take care of his dog, Athos (a parallel to Odysseus's faithful old dog Argos), suggests the novel's god-dog concept; the word Athos, in fact, contains a hint of the word theos — that is, God. Also, the men discuss the son of Reuben J. Dodd, who tried to drown himself because his father insisted that the son end an unsuitable love affair. A boatman saved young Dodd, and his parsimonious father gave him only a florin tip for his troubles; Simon Dedalus's comment, "One and eightpence too much," typifies the personality of this stiff, but often humorous, Micawber-like father. At the graveside, the men see a mysterious 13th mourner, a man wearing a Macintosh coat; this is a visitant whose identity will never be disclosed in Ulysses, although he will appear in the newspaper report as being one of those at the burial.
